One of the most important aspect of traveling anywhere is enjoying the local food. I make sure that I eat as much local food as possible. And being in India I knew I would be getting good food. So there were no surprises in the canteen food inside the campus. What took me by surprise was the hostel food.

In general the mess food was good. It was a little high in hotness (pepper) for me, but otherwise it was tasty. The week's menu was set by a student committee and that is what we ate - at least for the two and a half months that I was there. Breakfast was aaloo ka parantha with butter, or aaloo and parantha, sandwiches, pav bhaji etc...all good and filling. Once a week there would be a boiled egg. Lunch and dinner were quite standard with daal, vegetable, rice and roti. Then there was the snack with evening tea, mostly good - channa, pakori, poho etc. Some days were special like Saturday afternoon was chola bhatura day and Sunday mornings were aaloo puri breakfast and finished off with good dinner also. Lunch would be simple thahari that day. So all in all, never really got bored.

The only thing was that I don't eat so much oil in a week, so I really had to make sure that I controlled what I ate and keep up with my walking each day!

(aaloo ka parantha)                                   (chola_bhatura)                                                                

Then I would also go out to eat sometimes. At the mall I would have my favorite South Indian dish, dosa followed by coffee. And during travels, eating at Haldiram is a treat!

Chinese food, I feel, is more popular than chaat in India now. And I do like Indian-Chinese food, which is different than Chinese food in USA, but there is only so much Chinese I can eat. On campus, I could not really find chaat much except for some samosas.  So occasionally I would buy the spicy chips, really different type of cookies and drinks in wonderful flavors to satisfy my masaala cravings.

There is no doubt that for me, the biggest perk of being in India is eating all the good food - and very affordable! I will miss it!